EE Meets WAJ Part Two : Major Firepower
by Black Cat1
Summary: CAUTION!! This should be rated R but nobody sees it there.This combines my blend of the Early Edition and What About Joan characters from my Early Edition Meets What About Joan crossover with Stephen King`s Firestarter.
1. At the Lab

Major Firepower  
  
  
By Black Cat  
  
  
Cast of Characters  
  
Gary Hobson ****** Joan Gallagher  
Marissa Clark ****** Jake Evans  
Erica Paget ****** Ruby Stern  
Henry Paget ****** Alice Adams  
Patrick Quinn ****** Mark Ludlow  
Chuck Fishman ****** Steinie  
Marion 'Zeke'  
Crumb ****** Mrs. Evans  
Carl the Cat ****** Mr. Evans  
Lois Hobson ****** Bernie Hobson  
Det. Paul   
Armstrong ****** & Det. Toni Brigatti   
  
  
Chapter 1  
January 20, 2002  
7:00 AM  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
A usual start to a usual day. Gary thinks to himself as he heads into the dining room at Mc Ginty`s. A lot in the paper today including a suicide at a laboratory during an experiment with a newly rediscovered psychedelic drug from the 60`s called Lot Six.  
  
He heads to the bar to sit down to breakfast with Marissa and Chuck. Shaking his head as he reads through the article.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
5:00 PM  
John Gearigson Hall  
Laboratory Room 707  
  
  
Gary`s plan to prevent the suicide at the lab hadn`t gone well, 'AT ALL!'  
  
Being mistaken for one of the experiments' volunteer`s , he`s now stuck laying on a cot with the Lot Six dripping through an intraveneous  
into his arm.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
8:45 AM  
The Next Day  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
The gang at Mc Ginty`s (Chuck, Marissa, Erica, Patrick , & Henry) had been worrying all morning. Gary had never returned before they had all left last night. They were sure he`d return during the night, but he still wasn`t back.  
  
"I`ll take Patrick out to help me look around for him in a little bit." Chuck says to Marissa.  
  
"Alright, I sure hope nothing bad has happened to him." replies a worried Marissa.  
  
"If we don`t find out anything, we`ll just come back here to think what to do next." says Chuck.  
  
Ten minutes later Chuck and Patrick start out on their search for Gary.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
9:00 AM  
Back at the Lab  
  
  
Gary wakes from a drug induced sleep and asks the people whom seem to be in charge about the things he had seen the night before.  
  
A bloody hand reaching out of a ring of people in white lab coats had smacked the graph of the human digsetive tract behind his cot and having the graph chart reroll itself so fast and with aloud crash it seemed as if it had been wearing a jet-pack.  
  
And the unforgetable look of that hand, it was dripping with blood and human tissue. And the man was screaming like a banshee as he lay clawing his own eyes out. They had hauled him off to an unknown place soon after that.  
  
And the girl who went into cardiac arrest had been hauled off too.  
  
And the girl on the cot next to Gary telling him about the doctor none of the graduate assistants seem to have heard of before.  
  
And now this quack doctor trying to tell Gary that the doctor , the man clawing his own eyes out, & the cardiac arrest victim had all been hallucinations. But something doesn`t seem right to Gary. They couldn`t have been hallucinations how else do you explain the empty cots?  
  
  
to be continued...... 


	2. Released

Chapter 2  
January 22,2002  
10:00 AM  
On the Street  
  
  
Getting released from the lab and learning it was an experiment for which he revcieved a $200 check for'participating' in. Gary takes off down the street towrad an unknown destination.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
10:15 AM  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
At Mc Ginty`s Bernie and Lois Hobson arrive they had started to recieve the paper again. Since Carl has obviously not been able to find Gary either. Chuck,Marissa,Erica,Patrick,& Henry start to give them the details of their as -of-now fruitless search. Crumb stops by to say hello and after hearing what`s happening decides to help look for Gary.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
11:00 AM  
Back on the street  
  
  
Gary is back to heroism but doesn`t seem to notice for some reason. He`s not even using the paper!, he just seems to know whats going to happen at every second of tha day. He also can`t stop thinking about what had happened in that lab for some reason.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
2:30 PM  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
The paper starts to change articles on the Mc Ginty`s gang (Bernie, Lois, & Crumb included) even though they haven`t been able to do anything with the paper yet.   
  
Nobody is aware it is Gary who is causing the changes courtesy of his yet to be discovered, newly acquired telekinesis, that allows him to know things without any effort in learning them from someone or something else.  
  
to be continued.... 


	3. Home Again A Place to hide

Chapter 3  
Four Months Later  
May 25, 2002  
7:45 AM  
On the street  
  
  
Chuck,Bernie,Lois,& Crumb have been out in the  
strrets doing the best they can catching the things  
that haven`t changed by themselves in the paper.  
  
  
"What time did it say fror that hold-up?,  
Bernie?" asks Chuck.  
  
"8,o,three." Bernie replies.  
  
  
Just at that second they see a man run around  
the corner who looks like Gary probably would if he  
were months late for a haircut. Being so worried  
about Gary as they have been they decide to tail him.  
  
"How can we be so sure it`s really Hobson?" asks  
Crumb as they run down the street.  
  
"It`s worth a try, isn`t it?" Lois asks.  
  
"It`s him!!" Bernie & Chuck screamed in unison  
as they got a look at his face.  
  
But as they round the corner to where Gary has  
gone. They find him staring with a dreamy look in his  
eyes at a boiling "LAKE MICHIGAN!!!" As they realize  
that it is Gary who is somehow making this happen.  
Chuck makes a half-witted attempt to jump Gary from  
behind in order to try and calm him down. The idea  
not turning out as Chuck had hoped, results in Gary  
promptly lighting Chuck`s hair afire.  
  
"F***! Shit! Help! Aahh!" Chuck`s screaming.  
  
Gary lighting Chuck`s hair while frightened and  
out of control,tries to help as he realizes it is Chuck.  
And is promptly pushed out of the way by a misunderstanding  
and shocked Bernie and Crumb.  
  
A distraught Gary runs away from the scene.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
Later  
Joan`s Apartment  
  
  
Gary arriving at Joan`s apartment in the  
misunderstanding that his parents, Chuck, & Crumb want  
nothing more to do with him, hopes that perhaps Jake &  
Joan still will love him and maybe be willing to help.  
  
After ringing the doorbell Gary promptly faints.  
  
Upon opening the door and finding a fainted  
Gary, Joan calls for Jake who carries Garys limp body  
into the apartment and places him on the bed. Ruby,  
Alice, Mark, Steinie,& Jakes parents whom are visiting  
and have accepted an invitation to have dinner with  
the rest of the bunch crowd into the room to see what  
is wrong with Gary. Mr. & Mrs. Evans whom don`t know Gary  
glance suspiciously at Jake as he checks Gary`s cheeks  
and forehead for signs of fever and finds heis nearly  
burning in his skin. Jake is also trying to decide  
how to break Gary`s identity to them since he hasn`t  
yet mentioned to them his search for his biological  
family. After Jake steps back from the bed Gary starts to act restless.  
  
"Maybe we should call Dr. Ross. When I went to  
get Gary at the hospital mistaking him for you he told   
me he could make house calls."Joan says to Jake.  
  
"Yeah. Good idea. Go ahead and call him." Jake  
replies.  
  
An hour later Dr. Ross arrives. While awaiting hi  
arrival, Alice, Ruby, Mark, & Steinie leave to go to their respective  
homes. After Jake had explained as gently as he could to Mr. & Mrs. Evans, they seem to accept Gary and evenstay to hear the doctors diagnosis.  
  
"He`s really burning up. His temperature is over  
one-fifty. He can stay here there`s not much we could do for him at  
the hospital that you couldn`t do here. Just try to keep him comfortable and keep him in bed with ice packs and cold compresses." says Dr. Ross.  
  
"He can stay here." agrees Joan.  
  
"Anything else doctor?" Jake asks.  
  
"Not much. He hasn`t eaten much for a very long  
time. If you can try to find out where he`s been & what`s happened to  
him give me a call. Give me a call in the morning also. I`m giving him something to help him sleep. I`d like to know hom much it helps and if his temperatures' gone down any." replies the doctor.  
  
The doctor leaves. Jake takes his parents to  
their hotel. Having left Joan with Gary. He returns to have Joan decided Gary can stay in the bedroom. She`s going to sleep on  
the sofas' pull-out bed and Jake can sleep with Gary to  
keep and eye on him.  
  
  
  
The Next Day  
  
  
  
Dr. Ross is enthusiastic when he gets a call the  
next day from Jake stating that Garys' temperature has dropped a  
little over 20 degrees during the night. Gary has  
also come to his senses and is able to recall what has  
happened to him over the past few months.  
  
Being that Gary is still ill and Jake & Joan both  
have to get to work the Evanses agree to spend the day with him at  
Joan`s.  
  
  
  
A Week Later  
  
  
  
After a few accidents (including catching a  
newspaper and a trash can afire and boiling water in the toilet and  
bathtub.) Gary realizes that he is also pyrokinetic (the ability to light fires just by thinking about them.) even though he can`t understand or control it. Joan & Jake try to help him learn to control it. While Ruby and Dr. Ross council him on dealing with it.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
Another Week Later  
3:15 PM  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
Gary having snuck a letter of explanation and  
apology in the mail when no one else was around.  
  
On a slow Thursday afternoon that letter arives  
in the mail and is left unopened on the bar, to await his parents,  
Chuck, & Crumb`s return from a day out with the paper. It is to the bunch (Mr. & Mrs. Hobson, Chuck, Crumb, Marissa, Erica, Patrick, & Henry) even though only Bernie & Lois`s names are on the envelope.  
  
Twenty minutes later Bernie, Lois, Chuck and  
Crumb return.  
  
"There is a letter for you there on the bar."  
Erica tells the Hobsons as they go to check in with Marissa.  
  
"Thanks Erica." Lois replies. Then steps back  
to pick it up off the bar.  
  
  
She looks at the name with the return address  
and gasps.  
  
"What`s the matter?" Bernie asks her as Chuck,  
Crumb, Erica, Marissa,& Henry face her wearing confused looks.  
  
"It`s from Gary." Bernie says as he turns the  
envelope in their direction.  
  
Bernie taking the envelope from her opens it  
and begins to read:  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
6-3-2002  
  
Dear, Mom & Dad , Chuck, Crumb , Marissa,  
Erica,  
Patrick, & Henry,  
  
  
Thanks in advance if you take the time to read this.  
  
My guess is you are probably pissed-off  
at me. If you are?,You`ve got a good reason to be.  
For what I did to Chuck. If you`re not it`s probably  
just my over-sensitivity as of the past few weeks.  
But anyways I hope Chuck is alright. I hope the rest  
of you are as well.  
  
Well, I guess I`d better cut to the cahse  
and explain why I did what I did. This letter will be  
long because of that.  
  
It all started in January. I went to one  
of the labs at John Gearigson Hall to prevent a  
suicide during the Lot Six experiments there. Being  
mistaken for one of the paid volunteers, I ended up in  
it too. During the experiment in which i was injected  
through intravenous with Lot Six. I and the other  
volunteers experienced, or so they claimed  
'hallucinations'. Also in the end there was one  
suicide and a cardiac arrest. Which the doctors  
denied they even happaned, though I saw them with my  
own eyes between my times of being `high` on the drug.  
The experiment lasted 48 hours.  
  
Once we were paid and released, I walked  
out the doors and took off down the street I couldn`t  
believe the things going through my head it was like  
working with the paper but without it. ( by the way  
it`s alright to tell Crumb about the paper as long as  
he won`t tell anyone else about it.)  
  
This happened for four months right?  
Thats how it seemed.  
  
Well after the accident at the lake when  
I started thinking you all wanted to be rid of me, I  
ran away. I don`t know how long it took but somehow I  
ended up here at Joan`s apartment. Joan is Jake`s  
girlfriend. Jake is Aunt Jane and Uncle Mike`s ...  
  
"Son!" Bernie and Lois continued,  
reading together now. They Continued  
  
... son that was put up for adoption after  
the crash. Jake found out about where we were around  
Christmas. When I got to Joan`s i`m told I fainted  
after ringing the doorbell. They brought me in, put  
me to bed and called in a doctor of whom I was a  
patient before. I had over a one-fifty temperature  
and was severly malnourished from being on the streets  
the whole time and never stopping to eat, I`m doing  
fine enough now to be able to get around the apartment  
and write you all.  
  
Joan and Jake are friends of a  
psychiatrist named Ruby Stern. The three of them plus  
the doctor helped me to realize I`m now telekinetic  
and pyrokinetic, I was totally out of control when  
you found me at the lake. It was my first pyrokinetic  
experience. I`ve now learned to control the pyro  
kinis, and the the telekinisis is why I was able to go  
out without the paper.  
  
The telekinisis and pyrokinisis are  
side-effects from the experiment I`ll have for the  
rest of my life. I just wanted to write this to  
explain everything to you and apologize for what I did  
to Chuck, You can disregard this letter or come see  
me. The address is on the envelope. This is the last  
you have to hear from me if that is the way you want  
it. I won`t pester you.  
  
Love  
Forever,  
Gary  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
Later That Evening  
Joan`s Apartment  
  
  
Bernie, Lois, & Chuck realizing the whole thing  
was only a bunch of misunderstandings arrive at Joan`s apartment. When  
they are invited in after Jake & Joan recognize Chuck, introductions are made, afterall it`s been 31 years since Jake last saw Bernie & Lois. Gary wakes to the sound of extra voices and after seeing his parents and Chuck again. Jake & Joan leave them some privacy, a tearful reconciliation follows. After starting plans with Jake & Joan for a family reunion Bernie, Lois & Chuck take Gary home to McGinty`s. When they get there, Gary is fast asleep they put him to bed.  
  
Erica,Marissa,Patrick,Henry and Crumbwhom have  
stayed after the customers left smiled as they witness Bernie and Chuck  
carry in the sleeping Gary. Bernie, Lois and Chuck let them know that even though Gary`s still sick he was well enough to be brought home.  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
  
Three Days Later  
9:30 AM  
Mc Ginty`s  
  
  
  
While the gang sits at the bar eating a late  
breakfast together after seeing Henry off to school, the door opens and in walks detectives Armstrong & Brigatti.  
  
"Good Morning." they say to the gang.  
  
"What can we do for you,today?" Gary asks.  
  
"Where here to ask what you know about the lake  
boiling a few weeks ago." replies Brigatti.  
  
  
At the mention of the lake boiling, Gary starts  
to choke on a bite of toast. Crumb asks if he`s  
alright and gives him a pat on the back to help him  
out. Armstrong raises an eyebrow at gary while  
flashing a questioning look his way. Gary takes a  
drink of his juice to wash the crumbs down. Then  
asks...  
  
"Anything specific you`re wanting to know?"  
  
"Well a few agents from the group that developed  
the drug Lot Six are looking for you. They are also  
the people who conducted the experiment. They know it  
was because of you , what happened at the lake. We  
know it`s you too. You`re not in any trouble for that  
though." replies Armstrong.  
  
Bernie, Lois, Erica, Chuck, Marissa, Patrick, &  
Crumb simultaneously look from the detectives to  
Gary, then back to the detectives.  
  
"This is the second time they`ve done this."  
says Brigatti as she continues where Armstrong left  
off. "We are just trying to warn you so you`ll have  
time to get away from here. They are on their way  
from their compuond outside of Washington D.C. right  
now."  
  
"You said this is the second time. What is this  
the second time for exactly?" Crumbs asks.  
  
"That this is the second time they`ve done the  
experiment and that one of the volunteers developed  
pyrokinesis. They tried to catch the girl. But she  
committed suicide when she found ou what they were  
going to do to her. They want to do the same to you."  
Armstrong says to Gary. " Capture you then take you  
to their compund and run tests to see what makes you  
work. It`s like a mental autopsy. Which is why we  
suggest you get out of here as soon as you can today.  
Go where you don`t know anyone except if you pick  
someone to go with you. If they catch you they could  
have you spending the rest of your life, like a  
sideshow freak."  
  
  
"I know a place for you to hide. I`ll take you  
there and stay with you." Crumb offers Gary.  
  
"Th..Thanks." Gary replies,his words stumbling  
out of his mouth. As he stares at his eggs.  
  
"It`s an abandoned group of camps, my family  
owned one of them in the fifties. It`s still in  
good enough shape to stay in for awhile." Crumb  
says as he and Gary clear their plates so they can get  
ready ,and be on their way. 


	4. At The Camp

Chapter 4  
  
At the Camp  
  
Five Months Later  
  
Upon arriving at the camp, they found still pretty  
  
well stocked. The pantry was stocked with five  
  
shelves of soups ,sardines, and Dinty Moore beef stew,  
  
and all sorts of canned vegetables. There was also  
  
still half a case of Rival dog food on the floor but  
  
Crumb didn`t think it would come to that.  
  
Crumb found a pair of cross-country skis he used to  
  
get into the next town for supplies and clothes for  
  
him and Gary. He had the familys' hidden 'struttin'  
  
money, and later on, they broke into three of the  
  
larger camps and stole money. They were not proud of  
  
this, but it seemed to them a matter of survival.   
  
They supposed the owners could afford to lose their  
  
thirty or fourty dollars worthof cookie jar money,  
  
which was exactly where most of them kept it. The  
  
only other thing they touched that winter was the the  
  
huge range-oil drum behind a large, modern cottage  
  
quaintly named CAMP CONFUSION. From this drum they  
  
took about forty gallons of oil.  
  
Crumb didn`t like going into town. He didn`t like  
  
the certain knowledge that the oldsters who sat around  
  
the big pot-bellied stove down by the cash registers  
  
were talking about the stranger who was staying in one  
  
of the camps. Stories had a way of getting around,  
  
and sometimes they got into the wrong ears.  
  
Another Five Months Later  
  
Crumb was right to feel he should not go into town  
  
any longer. One of the men whom had just bought a  
  
run-down novelty shop on the main street is an  
  
undercover agent for the group running the Lot Six  
  
experiment who has been instructed to hunt Gary and  
  
Crumb down had recognized Crumb from a photograph and  
  
was now waiting up a tree, armed with a rifle. Fixed  
  
inside the barrel of this specially modified rifle was  
  
a dart tiped with an ampul of the tranqulizer,Orasin,  
  
and at this distance there was always a chance it  
  
might tumble or veer. Luckily, the day was almost  
  
withoou wind.  
  
Hobson and Crumb came out together. Through the  
  
telescopic sight Gary looked as big as a barn door.  
  
Garys parka hood was down, the tap of his zipper  
  
pulled up only to his breastbone, so that the coat  
  
openedslightly at his throat. The day was warm, and  
  
that was in his favor, too.  
  
He tightened down on the trigger and sighted the the  
  
crosshairs on the base of his throat.  
  
He squeezed the trigger. there was no explosin, only  
  
a hollow PHUT! and a curl of smoke from the rifles  
  
breech.  
  
They were on the edge of the steps when Gary suddenly  
  
stopped and made a strangled swallowing noise. Crumb  
  
had heard nothing, but something about Gary had  
  
changed.  
  
"Gary? GARY!?"  
  
Crumb stared at him. Gary stood as still as a  
  
statue. And suddenly Crumb had realized what the  
  
change was. It was so fundemental, so awful, that he  
  
had not been able to grasp it at first.  
  
What appeared to be a long needle was sticking out of  
  
gary`s throat just below the Adam`s apple. His gloved  
  
hand groped for it, found it, twisted it to a new and  
  
grotesque, upward-jutting angle. A thin trickle of  
  
blood began to flow from the wound and down the side  
  
of Gary`s throat.  
  
  
  
"GARY!" he screamed. He leaped forward and grabbed  
  
Gary`s arm just as his eyes rolled up and he pitched  
  
forward.  
  
Just as he gets Gary`s body back into the cabin, the  
  
riflemans` fellow agents storm the place. Crumb is  
  
forced to defend himself and Gary with an elephant  
  
rifle he found in his grandfathers collection in the  
  
cabin.  
  
  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
The Next Morning  
  
After a restless night`s sleep with Crumb sitting up  
  
with the elephant rifle to guard him, Gary wakes to  
  
find a bloodily amputated hand on his quilt and a  
  
decapitated man lying in the shattered glass outside  
  
his window.  
  
"Crumb?" Gary asks as Crumb enters the room,panting.  
  
Gary motions out the window with his eyes.  
  
"I just got rid of the last of them that I could  
  
find." Crumb replies.   
  
Just as Crumb finishes he falls to the floor with a  
  
tranqulizer dart out of the back of his neck, seconds  
  
later Gary is hit once again, too. Less than a minute  
  
later the agents storm in again and whisk Gary and  
  
Crumb off to their compound to start Gary`s testing.  
  
A Week Later  
  
Crumb having been able to get them out behind the  
  
compound before the testing could even begin briskly  
  
explains his plan for their  
  
escape to Gary.  
  
Unfortunately they were seen leaving the building and  
  
an agent is hiding in the barn near where they are  
  
talking and overhears them. When Gary turns his head  
  
for a second the agent shoots Crumb in the chest.  
  
Suddenly Gary`s anger rises, along with the heat.   
  
Seconds later, the barn bursts into flames.  
  
"No!No!" Gary cried out.  
  
"Hobson, shut up!" Crumb said roughly. "They had it  
  
coming to them. But now they`re going to want to kill  
  
you. You understand? No...no more games. Gloves  
  
off." Though through his pain he pronounced it  
  
"glubs'. "Don`t let them ,Gary. And don`t let them  
  
cover it up. Don`t let them say...just a fire..."  
  
He raised himself a bit to pull Gary closer so he  
  
could understand since Crumb was getting too tired to  
  
talk and didn`t want to have to repeat himself, and  
  
now he lay back,panting.  
  
"Crumb, don`t talk...rest..."  
  
"No. Time" Using his right arm, he was able to get  
  
partway up again to confront him. "You have to get  
  
away if you can, Gary. If you have to kill the ones  
  
in your way Gary, do it. It`s a war. Make them know  
  
they`ve been in a war." His voice was failing now.   
  
"You get away if you can,Gary. Do it for me. Do you  
  
Understand?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Make it"-Crumb coughed up thick blood and forced the  
  
words out-"make it so they can never do anything like  
  
this again. Burn it down, Gary. BURN IT ALL DOWN."  
  
"Crumb-"  
  
"Go on , now. Before it all goes up."  
  
"I can`t leave you," he said in a shaking,helpless  
  
voice.  
  
Crumb smiled and pulled Gary even closer, as if to  
  
whisper in Gary`s ear. But instead gave him a  
  
fatherly kiss on the cheek.  
  
  
  
Agent Don Jules had founf himself in charge by  
  
default. He held on as long as he could after the  
  
fire started, convinced that Hobson would run out into  
  
their field of fire. Then shadows moved rapidly  
  
inside the barns` double doors. Somebody was coming  
  
out. But it wasn`t a person, it was the horses, half  
  
a dozen, eight, ten, their coats flecked with foam,  
  
their eyes rolling and white rimmed, mad with fear.  
  
Jule`s men, on hair trigger opened fire. Even those  
  
who had held back, seeing that horses rather than  
  
humans were leaving the stable, seemed unable to hold  
  
back once their colleagues had begun firing. It was  
  
slaughter, blood flew in the air and slicked the  
  
grass.  
  
"STOP!" Jules bawled. "STOP,DAMMIT! STOP SHOOTING THE  
  
FUCKING HORSES!!"  
  
He might as well have been King Canute giving orders  
  
to the tide.  
  
"QUIT IT!" Jules screamed. "QUIT IT! -CEASE FIRING!  
  
GODDAMMIT,CEASE FIRING, YOU ASSHOLES!"  
  
But the slaughter went on. Men were reloading with  
  
strange, blank expressions on their faces. Many of  
  
them were veterans of the Vietnam war, and their faces  
  
wore the dull, twisted-rag expressions of men reliving  
  
an old nightmare at lunatic intensity. A few others  
  
had quit firing, but they were a minority.  
  
"Hobson!" someone screamed, pointing at the stable  
  
doors. "HOBSON!"  
  
It was too late. The slaughter of the horses had  
  
barely ended and their attention was divided. By the  
  
time they swung back to where Gary stood with his head  
  
down, the trenches of fire had already begun to  
  
radiate from him toward them, like strands of some  
  
deadly spiders web.  
  
Gary was submerged in the power again, and it was a  
  
relief. Crumb`s shooting still left him with a numb  
  
ache.  
  
Trenches of fire raced across the grass to the ragged  
  
line of men.  
  
YOU KILLED THE HORSES, YOU BASTARDS, he thought, and  
  
Crumb`s voice echoed, as if in agreement: IF YOU HAVE  
  
TO KILL THE ONES IN YOUR WAY GARY, DO IT. IT`S A WAR.  
  
MAKE THEM KNOW THEY`VE BEEN IN A WAR.  
  
Yes, he decided, he would make them know they had  
  
been in a war.  
  
Some of the men were breaking and running now. He  
  
shoved one of the line of fire to the right with a  
  
mild twist of his head and three of them were  
  
engulfed, their clothes becoming so many flaming rags.  
  
They fell to the ground convulsing and screaming.  
  
Something buzzed by his head. It was Jules who had  
  
gotten another gun. He stood there, gun out, shooting  
  
at Gary.  
  
Gary pushed out at him; one hard, pumping bolt of  
  
force.  
  
Jules was thrown backwards so suddenly and with such  
  
force, he flew forty feet, not a man anymore but a  
  
boiling ball of fire.  
  
Then they all brkoe and ran.  
  
GOOD THING, he thought. GOOD THING FOR YOU.  
  
He did not want to kill people. That had not  
  
changed. What had changed was he`d kill them if he  
  
had too. If they stood in his way.  
  
He began to walk toward the nearest of the two houses  
  
which stood a little distance in front of a barn as  
  
perfect as the picture on a country calendar, windows  
  
broke like gunshots. The ivy trellis climbing the  
  
east side shuddered then burst into flames. The paint  
  
smoked, them bubbled, then flamed. Fire ran up onto  
  
the roof like grasping hands.  
  
One of the doors burst open, letting out the  
  
whooping, panicked  
  
noise of a fire alarm and two dozen secretaries,  
  
technicians, and analysts. They ran toward the fence,  
  
veered away from the deaths of electricity and  
  
leaping, yapping dogs, and they milled like frightened  
  
sheep. The power wanted to go out toward them but he  
  
turned it toward the fence, making the neat chain-link  
  
diameds droop and run, and weep molten-metal tears.   
  
There was a thrumming sound, a low-key ZAPPING as the  
  
fence overloaded and then began to short out segment  
  
after segment. Blinding purple sparks leaped up.   
  
Small fireballs began to jump from the top of the  
  
fence, and white porcelain conductors expoloded like  
  
clay ducks in a shooting gallery.  
  
The dogs were going mad now. Their coats stood out  
  
on crazy spikes and they ran back and forth like  
  
banshees between the inner and outer fences. One of  
  
them caromed into the spitting high-voltage and went  
  
straight up in the air, its legs splayed stiffly. It  
  
came down in a smoking heap. Two of its mate attacked  
  
it`s creamated remains with savage hysteria.  
  
There was no barn behind the house were Gary and  
  
Crumb had been held, but there was a long , low,  
  
perfectly maintained that housed the compunds` motor  
  
pool. Now the wide doors burst and an armored  
  
Cadillac limosine raced out. The sunroof was open and  
  
a man`s head and torso poked through it. He began to  
  
fire a light submachine gun at Gary. In front of him firm  
  
turf spun away in ragged digs and divots.  
  
Gary turned toward the car and let the power loose in that direction. The power was still growing; it was turning into something that was lithe yete ponderous, an invisible something that seemed to be feeding itself in a spiraling chain reaction of exporential force. The limo`s gas tank exploded, enveloping the rear of the car and shooting the tailpipe into the sky like a javelin. But before that the head and torso of the shooter were incinerated, the windsheild blew in, and the tires began to run like tallow.  
  
The car continued through it`s own ring of fire, it plowed out of control before losing it`s shape and melting into something that looked like a torpedo.  
  
People were fleeing from the other house now, running like ants, the house where Gary and Crumb had been held against their own will.  
  
He sent the force out, all of it. For just a second it seemed like nothing at all was happening; and then the house exploded.  
  
The only clear image he was left with ( and later the testimony of survivors reapeated it several times) was that of the chimney of the house rising into the sky like a brick rocketship, while beneath it the twenty-five-room house disintegrated like a little girl`s cardboard house in the flame of a blowtorch. Stone, lenghts of board,planks rose into the air and flew away on the hot dragon`s breath of Gary`s force. A typewriter melted into what looked like a green dishrag with a knot in it whirled into the sky and crashed down by the fences, digging a crater. And swivel chairs with the seats whirling madly were flung out of sight.  
  
Heat baked across the lawn at Gary.  
  
With the power spinning out of control, he looked for something else to destroy. Even out in the open the heat was becoming intense.  
  
While watching the people at the fences, throwing themselves at it, in an attempt to climb and get away, he heard Crumb`s voice in his head. As clearly as if he were standing right next to him, saying   
  
"ENOUGH,GARY! IT`S ENOUGH! STOP WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"  
  
But could he?  
  
Turning away from the fence he began to look for what he needed.  
  
Nothing. Nothing except-  
  
THE DUCKPOND.  
  
Gary stood in his own world of white, feeding his power into the duckpond, grappling with it, trying to bring it down, to make it have done. It`s vitality seemed endless. He had it under control now, yes; it fed smoothly into the pond as if through an invisible pipe. But what would happen if the water boiled away before he could disrupt it`s force and dispense it?  
  
No more destruction. He would let it fall back in on himself and destroy him before he allowed it to rage out begin feeding itself again.  
  
(BACK OFF! BACK OFF!)  
  
Now, at last, he could feel it losing some of it`s urgency, it`s...it`s ability to stick together. It was falling apart. Thick white steam everywhere, and the smell of laundries. The giant bubbling hiss of the pond he could no longer see.  
  
(!! BACK OFF!!)He thought dimly of Crumb again, this seemed to diffuse the power still more, and now, at last, the hissing noise began to fade. The steam rolled majestically past him.  
  
The power was still growing.  
  
This act of destruction, this apocalypse, had only approached it`s current limit.  
  
The POTENTIAL had hardly been tapped.  
  
Gary fell to his knees and cried, mourning the people and animals he had killed, mourning Crumb`s pain, (his telekinisis telling him Crumb was still somewhere here and, Alive!). And so perhaps mourning himself, and his breaking his own promise not to use the power anymore.   
  
How long he stayed that way he didn`t know, as impossible as it seemed he believed he might even have dozed. The pond caught his eye first, it had been close...very close, only puddles of water remianed.  
  
A Few Days Later  
  
  
  
Gary having climbed the fence himself to get out of the compound arrives in New York, where he was driven to by a van full of hippies who called him `Little Brother` and when he replied that he was headed North, gave him a loud cheer. He heads to the New York Times offices to tell his story and show what he can do in an effort to insure his freedom for the rest of his life.  
  
  
  
West Virginia  
  
A hospital in Roanoke  
  
Crumb wakes in the hospital a few days later. And while waiting for a nurse to return with his pain reliever starts to rummage through items found in his pockets.  
  
There is a note that reads "I think, I know what to do now.  
  
Love , Gary."  
  
THE END  
  
FINALLY   
  
IT HAS ONLY TAKEN MONTHS ON A LIMITED SCHEDULE TO GET THIS FINAL CHAPTER OF PART TWO READY FOR UPLOADING  
  
ENJOY! 


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